Life Less Ordinary
by emmylouuwho
Summary: Terra Nova oneshots. Bit of everyone. Spoiler warnings inside.
1. Some Things Never Change

**Author's Note:** New shows are always good for writer's block - which really just means I stop staring at my folder of unfinished fics asking why they hate me, and start on some new ones. I have a longer Terra Nova fic in the works as well.

Mild spoilers for 1.3 _Instinct._

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><p>"You got a job at a <em>bar<em>? Seriously?" Maddy stared at her brother, incredulous. "You're seventeen. Is that even legal?"

She had been tidying up the garden in front of their housing unit after the most recent incident with migrating dinosaurs. Between the multitudes of pterosaurs descending on the settlement and people scrambling to avoid them, it was a mess of overturned pots and uprooted plants. Maddy hadn't made much progress in the half hour before Josh dropped down beside her in the dirt. She was quickly distracted by the beautiful day, tipping her face toward the sun and closing her eyes, enjoying the novelty of sunbathing.

"Things are different here, Mad. Besides, gotta make money somehow."

"The rules may be different here than in 2149, Josh, but our parents aren't. They're going to freak out," Maddy stated emphatically, then looked over. "Ooh, promise you'll wait to tell them until I'm there."

Josh frowned. "Why?"

"It's been a while since I've seen a good horror film." Maddy grinned mischievously.

Josh nudged her with his shoulder and, unprepared, she tipped over. "Hey!" Maddy responded as she sat up, punching his shoulder, her grin matching his own.

"Besides," Maddy asked after a few minutes' scuffle. "What do you need money for anyway?"

Josh's grin faltered, and he looked down, shredding a blade of grass between his fingers. "Can't be dependent on Mom and Dad forever." He stood abruptly, dusting himself off. "I'm gonna go pick Zoe up from school."

Maddy made a noncommittal noise, frowning at her brother's retreating figure. "Mhmm. Bye."

She knew Josh, knew when he was hiding something. And he must've known that she would suspect something, which would explain why he ran off, and over twenty minutes earlier than usual to pick up Zoe. She didn't know if she was just channeling her father, but Maddy had a feeling that her impulsive, irresponsible brother's newfound interest in employment had something to do with his new friend, Skye.


	2. Enough

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay on updates. I meant to have more up last week, but real life and all that. Not entirely happy with this one, but let me know what y'all think. Anyway, enjoy!

**Spoilers** for 1.4 _What Remains._

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><p>Lieutenant Alicia Washington was feeling every one of her thirty-six years as she fell into bed that night. It had been a very long day; it didn't help that, for her anyway, it had lasted forty-five hours rather than the usual twenty-four.<p>

As long as she'd been here in Terra Nova, sometimes she wasn't sure she would ever get used to it. She had actually shot her commanding officer. To save his life of course. Still, that was the first time she'd ever done that.

_Somalia_. It had been awhile since Alicia thought about their tours of duty there. She and Taylor had known each other a long time, almost twenty years, since she first joined up at eighteen. They'd even become friends of sorts. But they could never get over the barrier of superior officer and his subordinate. It was one line they couldn't cross.

That didn't mean that seeing the pain of betrayal in Taylor's eyes earlier hadn't hurt. Torn through her like a physical blow. Then he had lifted that knife to his own throat, and all Alicia could think about was stopping him, keeping him alive- and with her.

'_You shot me.'_

'_I did, sir.'_ Like he should expect anything less from her.

He'd regarded her with a look that was part amusement, part affection. She knew that he knew at any other time she wouldn't put up with any of that self-pity crap._ 'Good work.'_

It was a small thing. His way of saying thank you. Acknowledging that she had saved his life- from himself- and he was grateful. _'__Good __work.__'_ It was a small thing, that phrase that meant he was happy to still be alive and in Terra Nova. It was a small thing, but it was enough.


	3. Staying

**Author's Note:** Most of my experience with five-year-olds is with boys (the family I'm a nanny for has two six-year-old boys) so apologies if Zoe sounds more like a boy. But since she's gotten no screen time so far, I figured her personality's pretty up in the air so far.

Mild spoilers for 1.1/1.2 _Genesis_.

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><p>Zoe Shannon hadn't seen much of the World Before. Unlike the other kids here, who talked about parks in biodomes and smog-filled streets on the way to school, most of her life had been spent in her family's apartment. She'd been Outside enough to know it was bad, and that Mommy said it was making people sick. But since they came to Terra Nova two weeks ago, Zoe found it hard to remember what she was supposed to be comparing it to.<p>

There was just so much to see! If she had thought about it, she would have easily dismissed the World Before as being too dull and gray and lifeless to ever compare with this.

There was color everywhere. The sky was a beautiful clear blue, with puffy white clouds. And at night, the dark blue was filled with hundreds of bright stars, and an even bigger one called the Moon. The food was new and sweet, and it was colorful too. And Maddy was so happy, smiling at the boy who liked dinosaurs as much as Zoe did.

And the dinosaurs! Sure, some of them were mean and would try to eat her, she knew that. But that didn't mean they weren't awesome. Zoe wished she could spend all day playing with the real dinosaurs, instead of the ones she made out of some of Josh's old shirts.

And the best part, apart from the dinosaurs of course, was that Daddy was back. She only remembered him a little - his hugs, his smell, and him tickling her until she squealed. He was gone a long time, but now they were all together again. Mommy was happy, not hiding her crying in her pillow when she thought Zoe was asleep. Maddy and Josh were happy too, even though Josh pretended he wasn't, the way he always did. He was mad at Daddy for being gone so long, even though he couldn't help it. Mommy told her so.

Zoe was used to being quiet; she had to be. But now she could go to school with other kids, play outside without a ReBreather. She was still shy, trying not to have anyone notice her. But she decided she liked it here, and thought they should stay.

She told Maddy that one night, and her sister smiled, giggling, and agreed. "I like it here too. And don't worry, we're definitely staying."

Zoe rolled over in her bed. It had taken her a few nights to get used to it, but she liked having her own bed now. "Good."


	4. I Have Time

**Spoilers** for 1.5 _The Runaway._

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><p>By the end of her first day at the clinic, Maddy Shannon was almost certain that she was not cut out for life as a doctor. She didn't mind the scientific aspects; in fact, that was the part she preferred. She'd spent her lunch break in front of the clinic's main computer, reading about the plants with medicinal qualities they'd found in the past month alone. Her meal lay forgotten before her until five minutes before her break was over, when her mother came over, clucking indignantly when she saw Maddy had taken exactly three bites of her sandwich. A fact Maddy was profoundly grateful for later that afternoon.<p>

A man came in with a badly wrapped, bloody bandage around his forearm, and her stomach immediately twisted uncomfortably. When her mother began to unwrap the injury, Maddy took a hasty step backward, her stomach rolling at the smell. She had to turn her head away when she caught sight of the actual wound, a jaggedly broken bone protruding from it. It had taken all her willpower not to sprint from the room, gagging.

The only problem - well, apart from her extreme squeamishness when it came to the actual practicing of medicine - was that she couldn't bear to tell her parents. That first night at dinner, even with the added distraction of Lia, her mother still managed to praise her performance that day. And her dad looked so proud at the idea of another doctor in the family. Maddy didn't have the heart to disappoint them. The next day Maddy entered the clinic with a renewed determination to get over her aversion to blood.

Pus was something she hadn't counted on. After rushing out the room, her hand clapped over her mouth, Maddy was promptly sick behind a bush outside. Her mother found her ten minutes later, leaning against the wall of the clinic, fighting back tears. She gave Maddy a sympathetic and oddly understanding look - considering it came from a woman fascinated by oozing pustules - before handing her the grocery list and suggesting she take the rest of the day off.

And that was how Mark found her in the market that afternoon, feeling humiliated and dejected. Maddy was too busy feeling miserable to pay enough attention to be nervous around him. That is, until he loudly declared his 'intentions for her.' Whatever the heck that meant.

Maddy found herself smiling a little at how unsure Mark seemed as he explained that he basically wanted to date her. It was comforting to know she wasn't the only one who felt that way. And then he said something about speaking to her father, and her stomach dropped. _Oh __God, __I __hope __he __hasn__'__t __tried __that __already._ She really needed to prepare her dad beforehand for that particular conversation, if she wanted to keep him from shooting Mark.

He asked about her day, genuinely interested, and Maddy had to stop herself from melting into a puddle of goo on the ground. There was something about the way he actually _listened_ to her, even when she rambled on, that she found so appealing. And surprising.

"Where should I start? The part where I almost puked on a patient in front of my mother? Or the part where Lia just..."

"Start at the beginning," he said, holding out his arm. "I have time."

She accepted the old-fashioned gesture, feeling a giddy smile plaster itself on her face even as she related the cringe-worthy events of that morning.

"I just started my apprenticeship at the clinic with my mom, and I was not prepared for the... messiness of it all."

"Which would explain the puking comment," he said with a sympathetic smile.

"Yeah," Maddy replied. "I think I like the idea of being a doctor more than the reality. It _sounds_ fascinating - diagnosing an illness, it's like solving a puzzle, and all the natural remedies being discovered. I mean, that's what was so exciting about coming here in the first place. Before the rainforests were destroyed, that's where they found a lot of the medicines we still use today. Or will use I guess. So it's like we get a second chance to discover them, in a whole new jungle." She paused, thoughtful, then continued, lost in her own thoughts, "You know, I went to the Amazon Rainforest Dome once. On a field trip when I was eight. It's crazy to think that it used to cover almost six million square kilometers, and we walked around the entire biodome in two hours."

Maddy turned to see Mark just watching her as they walked along, and looked away, feeling a blush coloring her cheeks.

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I tend to ramble, if you haven't noticed. So yeah, sorry. Again."

"I don't mind."

Maddy looked up with a raised eyebrow, and considered his open, honest expression. "You really don't, do you?"

Mark shook his head and, clearing his throat, said, "And I was just thinking, my sister works for Dr. Wallace, experimenting with the different plants they bring back from some of the scientific outposts. If you're interested, I could ask her if she needs an assistant or something. If you like."

"Really?" Maddy grinned up at him.

This would give her an excuse to get out of her apprenticeship at the clinic before she embarrassed herself further, and was something she was genuinely interested in. And it was with Mark's sister, which meant that she could possibly find out more about him without seeming too much like a stalker. Somehow he'd managed to turn her day around, seemingly without any effort.

Mark shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand in what she'd begun to recognize as a nervous habit of his. "Sure, it's not a problem."

"Thank you!"

Maddy threw her arms around him with an excited shriek of laughter. Mark stiffened briefly before returning the hug gingerly. Maddy pulled away, blushing again, and Mark held out his arm once more. She took it, and they turned out of the market and down the path toward her house.


	5. Not Quite Friends

Mild **spoilers** up to 1.5 _The Runaway_

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><p>Jim wanted to hate him, if only for the simple reason that he'd dated Elisabeth in college, and was way more in her league than Jim himself. It was petty and juvenile, but it was true. But it was hard to truly hate the person responsible for his family's reunion, not to mention their second chance in Terra Nova.<p>

So after the initial shock of finding out that Malcolm Wallace, his wife's ex, was responsible for his family's relocation, Jim found himself almost liking him. Almost. The man was a bit too smart for his own good, and tended to think first about scientific advancements and second about everything else, including personal risk; but he also solved the pterosaur migration problem, and helped Elisabeth engineer an antidote to the amnesia-producing virus. And more than that, he looked out for his people.

Jim was uncomfortable suspecting people of acting as spies for the Sixers simply because they were part of the Sixth Pilgrimage, especially once he found out the percentages. Only about half of that Pilgrimage joined Mira in her rebellion. From what information he could gather, the rest seemed to be model citizens of the colony. What Taylor was doing, guilt by association, made Jim uneasy. And Malcolm seemed to share that opinion, albeit for more personal reasons.

So while he was pretty damn sure they could never be friends, Jim found more reasons to respect Malcolm as he got to know him. And, Jim didn't feel so much like punching the guy in the face anymore. Then again, that might also be because he'd already knocked him out once.


	6. That'll Be All

**Spoilers** for 1.4 _What Remains_

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><p>Taylor found the younger man just outside the gates the next morning, on guard duty in the fields. That detail meant eight hours, in full gear, standing in the scorching sun. It was safe to assume anyone pulling that duty had severely pissed off a superior officer. So, Wash wasn't as forgiving about Reynolds' failure to follow orders as Taylor himself.<p>

Taylor knew the moment Reynolds caught sight of him; the young soldier went from casually alert to stiffly at attention in the blink of an eye. He was standing so stiffly, Taylor was afraid the kid would break something if he stood that way too long. He saw Wash's hand in this; she must have given him a piece of her mind for ignoring a direct order, especially with a civilian in the room, before sending him out here.

The older man smiled to himself. His lieutenant was tough, and every new recruit hated her guts. But, by the end of the first year, the ones that didn't drop out would follow her, and by extension Taylor, through hell and back without question. Reynolds was starting his second year in the colony's security force.

Wash produced loyal soldiers, who worked hard and took care of their own and the colony, because she considered it to be the most vital of all attributes. A traitor was less than human in Lt. Washington's book. And he'd gone and accused her of betrayal. _Shit._ Taylor frowned at the thought, then noticed Reynolds straighten even further, if possible, in response.

"At ease, Reynolds, before you hurt yourself."

Reynolds relaxed infinitesimally, feet slightly apart, weapon moving from his shoulder to loosely held in front of him. Instead of staring straight ahead, now he watched Taylor with an expressionless face, the only sign of his wary curiosity the slight tilt of his head.

It was hard to believe that this soldier before him was the same gangly underfed kid who stepped out of the portal four years before, all knees and elbows, with more limbs than he knew what to do with.

"How old are you, son?"

An eyebrow shot up briefly, but that was the only reaction on the boy's part. "Nineteen, sir."

Nineteen. Where Taylor was the night before, the part of his past he was reliving, Reynolds would've been a child, no more than a toddler.

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><p>It had taken a while for Taylor to remember everything that happened after he was exposed. He remembered his disbelief at the sight of dinosaurs on his way back to Terra Nova. Wash's face, inexplicably aged, confused and then hurt by his accusations, all covered with anger, kept tightly reined in. The Reynolds and Shannon's oldest daughter walked in. Taylor had seen real fear flicker across Wash's face as he held his knife to Reynolds' throat; she cared for this stranger, and that had been enough to give him pause. And the girl had looked terrified, confused as well. As though she knew him well enough to know this behavior was unusual; but Taylor had been sure that he'd never seen her before. Wash told him he was a soldier, and one under his command. Despite his suspicions about Wash's loyalties at that moment, he couldn't see any deceit in her eyes. And he wasn't about to kill one of his own men, one who had done nothing to threaten him.<p>

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><p>"Sir?" Reynolds' voice drew him out of his thoughts.<p>

"Tell you what, Sergeant," Taylor said, fighting back a smirk. "You treat Shannon's daughter with respect, go about it the right way, and we'll just forget all about you disobeying Lt. Washington's orders last night." He paused. "Along with my own actions."

That was the closest the kid was getting to an apology. Luckily, Reynolds was too busy staring at the mention of Maddy Shannon to notice.

"And this doesn't get you off the hook with Wash. She's probably got more torture in store for you."

Reynolds stood to attention once more, obviously fighting back a smile.

"Yes sir."

"That'll be all, Reynolds."


	7. Wash

**Author's Note:** Finally uploading more of these that have been on my hard drive for ages. And I wrote some new ones after last night's episode.

**Spoilers** for 1.5 the Runaway.

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><p>One of the Sixers cut her free, and for a second Reynolds wondered if Wash was going to hit him. From the murderous look on her face, it was a close call, but she simply stalked back toward the gate. One of the new recruits put out a helping hand, which she waved off, disgust and anger warring for dominance in her expression. Lt. Washington didn't do pity. And more than that, she was probably pissed beyond belief at being hauled in front of the entire colony, and Taylor, as a prisoner.<p>

She came to a stop next to Reynolds, turning back to face the Sixers. Reynolds wordlessly handed her his sidearm, keeping his right hand on his pulse rifle. Wash accepted the weapon with a barely perceptible nod. After almost a year and a half under her command, Reynolds knew better than to acknowledge any sign of weakness in his superior. She swiped angrily at a drop of blood seeping out of the split in her lip before taking a tighter grip on the gun and aiming it directly at Mira. She and Reynolds stood side by side as Taylor and Mira negotiated, the almost casual tone of their conversation contrasting starkly with the tense situation.

Wash's expression turned positively gleeful at Taylor's promise that the next time the Sixers came at Terra Nova, he'd go to war. Even though he and Wash were on the same side, Reynolds found that look more than a little unsettling. As much as he liked the older woman, she was damn near terrifying when she was angry.


	8. Where Were You Really

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the delay, y'all. Real life blah blah. I've had these done for a while, just never got around to posting them.

**Spoilers** for 1.07 Nightfall

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><p>"Alright," Josh said as soon as he walked in.<p>

Maddy put a finger to her lips, pointing to the bed opposite, where Zoe was fast asleep. He nodded, then continued, pitching his voice low to avoid waking his youngest sister. "Where were you yesterday? Really."

Maddy tried to keep her tone even as she replied in a whisper. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you practically shoved all of us out the door yesterday morning, and were suspiciously helpful. And you told Dad you had to catch up on homework, and you haven't been anything other than chapters ahead of the rest of your class since I was six."

Maddy rolled her eyes. Josh still wasn't over the fact that she'd skipped a grade when she was five and he was six, putting them in the same class. The last eleven years apparently hadn't softened the sting of that humiliation.

"And that story about the garbage incinerator was crap, because it still smells in here, and the incinerator's at the other end of the house. You went out with that Reynolds guy, didn't you? You were OTG."

"OTG?"

"Outside the gates. Maddy, it's dangerous out there."

"Thanks, genius. I'm not the one who went out there with a bunch of unarmed kids to get drunk."

"What's that saying about people living in glass houses?" Josh asked sarcastically.

"Hilarious."

"You may have fooled them, but I've always been better at parental misdirection."

Josh spotted the pile of clothes she'd tried to hide in the laundry basket in the corner. Walking over, he picked up a mud-splattered blouse with two fingers, his nose wrinkling. "And if Mom spots this, you're dead."

"So what do you suggest, since you are so wise in the ways of staying out of trouble?" Maddy asked, half serious.

Josh replied with a smile, "Hey, I don't get caught for half the stuff I get into."

"I don't even want to know."


	9. Test, Pt 1

**Author's Note:** I didn't like that they didn't deal with the family's reaction to Jim being arrested, since the last time that happened was a pretty big deal for them. So wrote this in two parts as a kind of tag to episode 9.

**Spoilers** for 1.09 Vs.

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><p>Once they were in the brig, Mark removed the cuffs he'd been ordered to put on Jim Shannon. "Sorry," he muttered as the second cuff loosened. He hadn't tightened them much; in fact, Mr. Shannon could probably have escaped if he wanted to. Mark spent the walk to the brig half-hoping he would. But he wasn't just talking about the cuffs; the whole situation sucked.<p>

"Relax, Reynolds," Jim said as he turned, rubbing his wrists automatically. "You're just doing your job."

"Doesn't mean I'm not sorry about this, sir."

"Me too," Shannon replied, sitting down with a sigh.

As Mark closed the door on him, his thoughts turned to Maddy. She was absolutely going to kill him.

Even putting aside the fact that he was Maddy's father, Mark knew that Mr. Shannon wasn't the Sixer spy. Someone had been communicating with them from inside Terra Nova even before the Tenth Pilgrimage arrived; Taylor just hadn't had confirmation until Mira mentioned it just after the Tenth. And even though Jim Shannon did his level best to intimidate Mark and scare him off, Mark respected him. Everything he did, and had ever done-even to the point of going to prison-had been to protect his family. Mark felt the same. He would do anything to protect the people he loved, his family. Mark just extended the concept of family to include all of Terra Nova.

When the Commander turned to him and and told him to arrest Jim Shannon, Mark knew it was a test. _Choose __now.__Your __loyalty __to __Terra __Nova __or __to __your __girlfriend__'__s __dad._ He'd been under Taylor's command long enough to know that's how he operated.

Even though he hated doing it, he had to choose Taylor and Terra Nova. It didn't matter that Mr. Shannon was innocent. It was about whether he was willing to do something he hated, for the good of the colony. In the Commander's mind, if Reynolds was willing to do this, Taylor would know that he would do whatever was needed down the line.

He only hoped that Maddy would understand. And forgive him. He didn't hold out much hope that Jim Shannon would do either. The man had been looking for reasons to disapprove of and dislike him since he first showed interest in Maddy.


	10. Test, Pt 2

**Spoilers** for 1.09 Vs.

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><p>Mark spotted Maddy just as she was leaving the clinic the next day. He saw her eyes dart from him to the path, and then she was off, speed walking in the direction of her house with her eyes firmly on her feet. <em>Crap.<em> Obviously she now knew about her father's arrest the night before. With a weary sigh, Mark jogged over to catch up with her, easily matching her pace.

"Maddy!"

"Hey," she said, not meeting his eye, and continuing on her way.

"Maddy, listen I-"

Maddy interrupted. "I've gotta go. I need to pick up Zoe-"

"Maddy."

"-and then start on dinner-"

"Maddy."

"-since my mom is working late. So I should really get going."

"Maddy," he said, gently pulling on her arm to slow her down. "Please, just stop for a second?" He released her arm quickly, afraid that she would jerk it away. He couldn't handle that at the moment. She stopped and turned to face him, her eyes still downcast.

"Can you please look at me?"

Maddy looked up at him and he saw the barely contained anger in her eyes. It surprised him to see this side of her, something Mark had never seen before. He'd seen her nervous and embarrassed when they first met, scared when they were treed by an angry dinosaur, and frustrated when she told him about whatever trouble Josh had gotten into recently. But never angry.

"I can't do this right now," she said, teeth clenched.

"Maddy, I just wanted to tell you... that I'm sorry for-"

"For what?" she interrupted angrily. "For arresting my _dad_? Or for acting like it never happened last night at the festival?"

"Maddy, I was following orders. I-"

"Don't give me that. You know my father has nothing to do with the Sixers." She huffed angrily. "Do you have any idea what we went through the last time he got arrested? What it did to my family?"

Mark knew some of her family's history, all learned from her. With her family suddenly living off a single income, Dr. Shannon was forced to take extra shifts at the hospital, Josh worked after school to help out, and Maddy-too young to get a job at fourteen-became Zoe's surrogate parent, standing in for both mother and father. The only positive thing to come from Mr. Shannon's imprisonment was that, since the government knew about Zoe, she didn't have to be hidden anymore.

"Maddy, please just listen to me, okay?" he said, and found he couldn't even care that his voice had taken on a note of pleading. "I know you're upset, and you have every right to be. But there's something you gotta understand: I'm a soldier, so if I'm given an order, I follow it. It's my job. It's who I am."

Maddy stared at him for a minute or so, looking like she was trying to hold onto her anger. Then she nodded, lips pressed into a thin line, and heaved a sigh that seemed to take all the fight out of her. Suddenly she looked very, very tired.

Mark waited for her to say something, and when she didn't, he continued. "Okay, and the reason I didn't mention it last night was because your dad asked me not to. He didn't want to spoil the festival for you and Josh and Zoe." He grinned wryly. "Especially for Zoe on her big night."

He paused, and then smiled sheepishly. "And I was kind of afraid of how you'd react."

Maddy's lips turned up into a tightlipped smile. She looked like she was still trying not to give in, but he was wearing her down, he knew.

"So, am I forgiven?"

"We'll see." She was biting her lip to keep from smiling. "And I really do need to go pick up Zoe."

He offered her his arm in a gesture that had become a sort of joke between them. Maddy rolled her eyes before slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow.


	11. Comfort

Mild **Spoilers** for the finale.

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><p>"It's gonna be okay, Zoe. You'll see."<p>

Josh wasn't sure who he was trying to convince, Zoe or himself. He felt her nod against his side, his arm around her small shoulders. As the convoy passed through the gates, he glanced over at Maddy. She had her arms crossed protectively, and tears had made tracks down her cheeks.

Zoe wrapped both arms around his waist, and Josh could feel her shaking. It was bad enough dealing with their parents in danger for himself and Maddy; at least they were practically grown and could take care of themselves. Mostly anyway. But Zoe was so little, still practically a baby. If anything happened to their parents, would she even remember them in a few years time?

Josh hoisted his youngest sister into his arms. She must have been scared to let him; normally she complained that she was too big for to be carried. Zoe curled her legs almost too tightly around him, tucking her face into his shoulder.

Maddy put a hand on her back soothingly. "Yeah, they'll be back soon. And they'll have Kara with them."

Zoe looked up with a small smile. She'd always liked Kara.

Still holding Zoe in his arms, Josh turned back toward home, and Maddy walked close enough to rub shoulders with him.


	12. Your Father's Eyes

**SPOILERY SPOILERS** for finale.

**Author's Note:** For the record, I do not accept that she's dead. It didn't happen. End of story.

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><p>The last thing she saw was his eyes.<p>

In her mind, the face around them changed, the hair going grey, a beard sprouting on his jaw, laugh lines crinkling the corners of the eyes. And though the eyes didn't change, the manic, almost gleeful hatred transformed into the expression he reserved for her. It was a look of respect and affection, and trust. Trust that was so hard to come by, he bestowed it on few enough people.

She blinked and the image was gone. All that remained was a stubborn, insane kid trying to prove something to his father.

"You have your father's eyes," she said softly.

The son glared. He hated any similarity between himself and his father. She didn't mean to goad him, she was only stating an observation. And anyway, what was he going to do? Kill her twice?

The sneering smile was back. "So I've been told."

He pulled the trigger.


	13. Still Your Friend

**Author's Note:** Bah! I suck at writing more than dribs and drabs of stories that never amount to a whole thing. So hopefully there will be a bunch of new stories soon, when I get inspired for all the missing bits. In the meantime, have a tiny moment of Maddy/Mark fluff.

**Spoilers** for 1.6 By-Law.

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><p>Maddy lost her momentum when she got to the ladder leading up to the watchtower where Mark was stationed that night. She stood there uncertainly as a blonde soldier that she knew by sight, but whose name she couldn't recall, walked over. As the older woman neared, Maddy saw that her uniform read 'L. ANDERSEN.'<p>

"Are you looking for Reynolds?" she asked.

Maddy nodded, suddenly shy. The woman considered her for a second or two before jerking her head toward the ladder.

"Go on up. I can give you five minutes."

Maddy hesitated, and Andersen shook her head, grinning. "Well, get going!"

"Thanks," Maddy said quickly, climbing up.

* * *

><p>Mark was looking out at the jungle. He saw it every day, but it never seemed so endless before. Somewhere out there, Curran was wandering around, alone. Mark didn't even know if he had a weapon with him. He was drawn out of his thoughts by footsteps on the ladder leading up to the tower. He spoke before turning.<p>

"Andy, what took you so long?" Then he saw that it wasn't Andersen, it was Maddy. "Maddy. What are you doing up here?"

She looked sheepish and nervous, and he realized he must've been harsher than he intended.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," she said quietly.

"I'm fine."

Maddy looked disbelieving. "You lost two friends in the same week."

Mark's expression turned hard. "I lost _one_ friend... Curran betrayed us, betrayed everything we stand for."

"He's still your friend," Maddy replied.

"He _killed_ my friend."

"He's still your friend," she repeated quietly, insistently. "You can still care what happens to him."

Mark stared out at the jungle silently. He sighed, suddenly sounding very tired. "He deserves what he got."

"Maybe," she said quietly. She came over and stood beside him, slipping her hand into his. "But you still lost two friends, and I'm sorry for that."

She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head. "Thanks."

They heard footsteps, and turned to see Andersen's blonde ponytail appearing through the hole in the tower floor.

"I should go," Maddy said, blushing at the knowing smile on the older woman's face.

As Maddy descended the ladder, she heard Mark say to his fellow soldier, "You let her up here?"

"Who am I to keep the lovebirds apart?" Andersen replied, laughing.

"Shut up." Maddy could hear the smile in his voice.


End file.
